Rena Owen(actor)Biography | Rena Owen
Rena Owen is an actress born on 22nd of July 1962. She has majorly based in television, film and theatre acting who is of Maori, Welsh, and other European Descent. She was best known as Hellen in Siren. Apart from her career in acting, she is a profession in medicine and a trained nurse at Auckland Hospital for three and a half years.
After her training in London at the Actors Institute, she worked extensively in British theatre. She is among the most successful and recognized actors in the world following her performance in ‘Once were warriors’ and ‘Siren’. She had her first acting role on the TV series Betty’s Bunch in 1990
Owen trained at the Actors Institute in London in the mid-1980s and worked extensively in British theatre. Highlights include Voices From Prison for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Co-Existences for the Elephant Theatre and Outside in for Theater New Zealand, which debuted at the Edinburgh Festival.
Owen wrote and starred in Te Awa I Tahuti (The River That Ran Away), which had a successful London tour and was later published by NZ Playmarket in 1991.
On her return to New Zealand in 1989, Owen acted in two dramas for Television NZ’s E Tipu E Rea series. A first of its kind, the series was written, acted, directed & produced by Maori, telling Maori stories.
She worked extensively in theatre; acting, writing, directing, working as a dramaturge, and was a founding member of Taki Rua Theatre. Owen wrote and starred in Daddy’s Girl, while also playing reoccurring roles in two TV series; Betty’s Bunch & Shark in the Park.
Recent theatre credits include starring in the classic NZ plays, Haruru Mai for the NZ International Arts Festival and The Pohutukawa Tree for ATC. In the USA, she has acted in multiple stage readings for Native Voices at the Autry in LA, and a charity stage reading of Vagina Monologues for the City of West Hollywood.
She also played the lead in a Hawaiian play called Fine Dancing, adapted and directed Toa Fraser’s play Bare for the Asian American Theatre Company in San Francisco (AATC).
In Once Were Warriors, Owen played the leading role of Beth Heke alongside Temuera Morrison, who played her husband. Once Were Warriors is predominantly narrated from Beth’s perspective, and her performance was praised as “classic”. Owen reprised the role in the film’s sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999).
Owen played Taun We in George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Nee Alavar in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and a cameo role in Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Whilst playing a reoccurring role in WB’s Angel, Owen played supporting and cameo roles in multiple international independent films.
Highlights include the NZ Canadian co-production, Nemesis Game, Garth Maxwell’s When Love Comes, Rolf de Heer’s acclaimed Dance Me to My Song, Vincent Ward’s acclaimed Rain of the Children, and US thrillers Alyce Kills & The Well.
She played leading roles in the Australian TV drama series, Medivac in 1998, and recently in ABC’s, The Straits, a multi-ethnic crime family drama. She also appeared in A&E’s Longmire.
Recently Owen and Morrison completed work on a documentary celebrating the 20-year anniversary of Once Were Warriors.
In 2016, Rena was cast in the Freeform thriller series’ Siren as Helen, which was premiered on March 29, 2018.
Rena Owen Age
Rena Owen is a New Zealand actress in theatre, television, and film. Owen is best known for her leading role as Beth Heke in Lee Tamahori’s Once Were Warriors and as Taun We in George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
She is 57 years old as of 2019 born July 22, 1962, in Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Rena Owen Net worth
She owns a variety of properties that add up to her wealth including expensive cars and luxurious things. She got to earn her wealth from the film industry this was after her parent’s death, where her mother kicked off first and her father second. Her approximated net worth in this year is 100k to 1m.
When it comes to profession, Rena has earned herself a decent net worth and chequered career in Hollywood, which is tremendous for a girl making her way from a small Maori village to L.A. But one thing is sure, she still has a long career ahead of her. Her net worth is not yet revealed as of 2019 but stays ready for the update soon
Rena Owen Family
She is from a family of 9 kids unmentioned her being among them, but they sadly lost their parents at an early age. Due to her determination in her two major careers, she has become the most successful in their family. Their mother died in the year 2008 following their father’s death.
Educational Background
She pursued a career in nursing and trained at Auckland’s Hospital for three years before leaving for London in mid-1980s for her overseas employment, where she was arrested for a drug-related offense. It was during her jail stay that she realized she wanted to be an actor.
Rena Owen Husband, Married
She met with her fiance in the year 2000 when she had moved to LA to expand her wings. He was an American security consultant and fortunately, they clicked together very fast. They got married through a white wedding after dating for a short while till 2002.
Unfortunately, two years after the marriage the two separated due to their professional differences the major reason for the divorce.
Rena was not ready to start a new relationship when her marriage ended, and it took her nearly three years to recover from that failed relationship and not a while ago she got another tragedy when her mother died.
Looking at her present life, it is clear that Rena has made plenty of right choices in her life, be it choosing acting over nursing or relocating her base from New Zealand to LA, and everyone hopes she gets it right finding her soulmate shortly.
Rena Owen once were warriors
Once Were Warriors maybe a 1994 New Sjaelland drama film supported New Sjaelland author Alan Duff’s bestselling 1990 initial novel.
The film tells the story of the Hekes, an urban Māori family, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence mostly brought on by the patriarch Jake.
The film was directed by Lee Tamahori and stars Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison and formation plant scientist.
Beth leaves her small town and much to her parents’ chagrin, she marries Jake “The Muss” (named for his big muscles) Heke. After 18 years, they live in an unkempt statehouse in South Auckland, New Zealand, and have five children. Their interpretations of life and being Māori are tested.
Jake is fired from his job but remains satisfied with receiving unemployment benefit and spending most days getting drunk at a nearby pub with his friends. He has a violent streak that he displays by savagely beating a muscular patron who dares disrupt a female singer’s (Mere Boynton) performance.
He usually invitations crowds of friends from the bar to his home for drunk parties. When his wife “gets lippy,” he brutally beats her in front of their friends, who are too intimidated to interfere. Beth turns to booze when things go wrong, and has angry outbursts and occasional violence of her own on a much smaller scale.
Her kids defend themselves, abjectly cleansing the blood-streaked house once their father beats their mother. Nig, the Hekes’ eldest son, moves out to join a gang whose rituals include getting facial tattoos (in Māori culture called tā moko).
He undergoes AN initiation beating by gang members, passes and is then embraced as a replacement brother.
Nig later sports the gang’s tattoos. He cares about his siblings but despises his father. He is angered when his mother is beaten but does not intervene.
Jake’s middle son, Mark aka “Boogie,” has a history of petty criminal offenses. He is placed in a foster home as a ward of the state due to his parents’ home life.
Jake is unconcerned with Boogie’s immurement and hopes it’ll strengthen him up. Despite his initial anger, Boogie finds a new niche for himself after the foster home’s manager, Mr. Bennett, helps him embrace his Māori heritage.
Grace, the Hekes’ 13-year-old daughter, keeps a journal in which she chronicles events, as well as stories she tells her younger siblings. Her best friend is a homeless boy named Toot, who lives in a wrecked car.
She dreads a future she believes is inevitable and is constantly reminded of getting married and playing the role of a wife, which she believes comprises catering to a husband’s demands and enduring beatings. She dreams of leaving and living an independent and single life.
Grace is raped in her bed by Uncle Bully, a friend of her father’s who tells her it is her fault for “turning him on” by wearing her “skimpy little nighty.” She falls into a deep depression and seeks support from Toot, with whom she smokes marijuana for the first time.
Toot kisses her but she reacts violently and storms out, believing he is “just like the rest of them.” Confused, Grace eventually goes home to an angry Jake with his friends. Bully asks for a goodnight kiss to check his power over her. She refuses and Jake sees it as a symbol of disrespect and rips her journal in 2 and nearly beats her up.
Beth returns home from searching for Grace and then screams hysterically after finding her daughter has hanged herself from a tree branch in the backyard.
Jake deals with the tragedy in his usual egoistic manner, going to the pub with his mates while the rest of his family takes Grace’s body to a tangihanga. Beth stands up to him for the first time when he refuses to let her be taken to the marae.
The film cross-cuts between the mourning, Jake drinking with his friends at the pub and the family on the marae.
Boogie impresses Beth with his Māori singing at the funeral, and Toot says his goodbyes, telling Grace the gentle kiss was all his gesture meant.
Boogie reassures Toot that Grace loved him, and Beth invites him to live with them. Reading Grace’s diary later that day, Beth finds out about the rape and confronts Bully at the pub. Jake initially threatens Beth for accusing his friend, but Nig steps between them, protecting his mother.
Nig hands his father Grace’s diary, and once glancing at it, Jake explodes in a very rage, nearly beating Bully to death and castrating him with a broken bottle.
Beth blames Jake just as much as Bully because of his violent lifestyle and decides to leave him. Beth tells Jake of her intention to take their children back to her Māori village and traditions, defiantly telling him that her Māori heritage gives her the strength to resist his control over her. Jake curses and yells at her on a curb outside the pub as the family leaves, with police sirens wailing in the background
Awards
During her acting career, she has been awarded severally years passing by
- Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award Nomination (2012): Best Guest or Supporting
- Actress in a Television Drama- East West 101
- New Zealand Film and TV Awards Winner (2011): Best Supporting Actress- Shortland Street
- Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards Nomination (1999): Best Supporting Actress- Dance Me to My Song
- Australian Film Institute Awards Nomination (1998): Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role-
- Dance Me to My Song
- NZ Film & TV Awards Nomination (1997): Best Supporting Actress- Cover Story[citation needed]
- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (1994): Once Were Warriors
- Montreal World Film Festival Winner (1994): Best Actress- Once Were Warriors
- San Diego International Film Festival (1994): Best Actress- Once Were Warriors
- New Zealand Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu Literary Award, 1992[citation needed]
Rena Owen Body measurements
She stands at a height of approximately 5 feet and 6 inches tall. She’s got a fair Dark brown skin and eyes that top to her beauty. Currently, we cannot clarify her weight.
Films and television shows
- Films
- 2017 Asomatous
- 2016 Lost Girls
- 2015 The Last Witch Hunter
- 2014 The Last Survivors
- 2014 The Dead Lands
- 2011 Alyce Kills
- 2011 Absolute Killers
- 2009 Veronika Decides to Die
- 2009 Prison Break: The Final Break
- 2009 Spout
- 2008 Ocean of Pearls
- 2008 A Beautiful Life
- 2008 Amusement
- 2008 Red Cloud
- 2006 Leela
- 2006 The Horrible Flowers
- 2006 The Iron Man
- 2005 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
- 2005 The Crow: Wicked Prayer
- 2005 Mee-Shee: The Water Giant
- 2005 Freezerburn
- 2004 The Land Has Eyes
- 2003 Red Zone
- 2003 Nemesis Game
- 2002 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
- 2002 sIDney
- 2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence
- 2001 Soul Assassin
- 2000 Her Iliad
- 1999 I’ll Make You Happy
- 1999 What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?
- 1999 9 Across
- 1998 Dance Me to My Song
- 1998 When Love Comes Along
- 1995 The Call Up
- 1995 Savage Play
- 1994 Hinekaro Goes on a Picnic and Blows Up Another Obelisk
- 1994 Rapa Nui
- 1994 Once Were Warriors
- TBA The Exquisite Continent
- Television
- 2018–present Siren
- 2017–2019 The Orville
- 2016 Joy
- 2015 The Red Road
- 2014–15 Longmire
- 2012 The Straits
- 2011 Shortland Street
- 2009–2011 East-West 101
- 2009 Piece of My Heart
- 2009 Prison Break
- 2009 Fear Clinic
- 2005 Star Wars: Republic Commando
- 2002 Angel
- 2001 Gideon’s Crossing
- 2000 All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story
- 2000 Dark Knight
- 1996–1998 Medivac
- 1996 Cover Story
- 1996 G.P.
- 1995 High Tide
- 1990–91 Shark in the Park
- 1990 Betty’s Bunch